Artifact One

Artifact Commentary

The NSTA publication represents an important pre-MATC artifact which has served as both a foundation and catalyst for learning. During the first fall season of Farm Sprouts, a farm- and nature-based preschool program I developed, led, and taught alongside colleagues, I noted a call for papers in NSTA’s Science and Children journal for submissions focusing on early childhood life science and the use of local resources to support learning about living things. I decided to answer the call, writing a paper in approximately two months for submission. All writing for the submission was accomplished on my own time due to a lack of funding and was accepted through a peer review process. The article was published that fall, one year following that first fall season. The article describes an investigation we embarked on with preschoolers seek responses to the question, “How do plants and animals prepare for winter?” I utilized Bybee’s (2006) 5E instructional model as a framework for sharing on our learning experiences, a model relied on by educators to sequence learning progressions to build increased understanding of science concepts.

As a foundation artifact, the NSTA article demonstrates my strengths upon entering the MATC program, including my understanding of subject matter and curriculum design and instruction (Standard 2), as well as my ability to blend learning theories and frameworks with practice (Standard 3). In addition, it is an example of my communication skills and information literacy as someone who strives to engage with professional organizations and read the latest professional literature in order to improve my teaching practice based on research (Standard 5). This submission was my first experience engaging in scholarship with an aim to contribute to the field of education. Despite the success with publication, I discovered through the process the desire to deepen my understanding of nature-based early childhood education, a small but rapidly growing niche in the field of education (Goal 2). I also learned how much I enjoy scholarship and aimed to grow in my skills as a writer and publisher in order to contribute to the field (Goal 3). Thus, following this publication experience, I began exploring program options for study to support my needs and goals, hence the NSTA article serving as not only a foundation artifact, but also as a catalyst for future learning.

The opportunity to develop a curriculum and build a program with few constraints outside of funding was to me, an incredible gift as an educator. The resources available to us were tremendous in terms of professional experts and specialists, as well as the rich natural and agricultural resources offered by our farm-based environment to support learning. The experience of writing the NSTA article was a synthesis exercise for me personally at the time, one that challenged me to deeply consider our approach and its impacts. It supported me in formulating the language I needed to embed our actions in theory, informing my own understanding of our praxis so I could, in turn, effectively share and advocate with the various stakeholders connected to the program, from our families to administration, in order to build the community and support we needed to grow. It was a powerful experience for me personally, in that it gave me the confidence to forge ahead, with my own education and as an advocate for a different kind of education system for all, one that supports meaningful, rich learning, such as through the project- and place-based approach this artifact describes.

Reference:

Bybee, R.W., et al. (2006). The BSCS 5E instructional model: Origins, effectiveness, and applications. BSCS: Colorado Springs, CO.